Longtime soccer and basketball referee Andy Savo has a simple objective when working a game. "Keep it safe and keep it fair," said Savo, president of the Western Connecticut Soccer Officials Association and a high school and college official for 35 years.

But during a recreational soccer game in Utah on April 27, it was anything but safe and fair for 46-year-old Ricardo Portillo. A volunteer official, Portillo was attacked by a teenage soccer player after he had issued a yellow card. As Portillo recorded the card in his book, the outraged 17-year-old punched him. Portillo seemed fine initially, but was later admitted to the hospital. He lapsed into a coma and died in a week due to head trauma.

We are accustomed now to attacks on officials and coaches, but the death of a volunteer was disturbingly brutal. It prompts us to ask: How do we keep our games safe for officials, coaches and players?

Out-of-control spectators is a concern from youth leagues through the professional ranks. Typically, security measures are designed to keep enraged individuals in the stands, away from coaches and officials.

The Utah incident, however, occurred on the field and the attack was by a player.

"We must take Ricardo's yellow card and turn it into our yellow card," said Barry Mano, founder and president of the National Association of Sports Officials. "This is a cautionary tale. I am not sure anything could have been done in this situation. So what do we do? We redouble our efforts."

In Connecticut, state high school tournament events are run by the CIAC, but Joe Tonelli, a member of the CIAC executive staff and director of the officials association, said that "millions of games are played each year, and it is just a very small few who cause all the problems, but, we can't let our guard down."

Games in the regular season and the state tournament "come under the jurisdiction of the school and the league," Tonelli said. CIAC tournament handbooks offer detailed safety guidelines. Savo said, for example, that it is mandated by the CIAC that officials arrive at a tournament site one hour before the game.

"The first thing we do is seek out the game manager," Savo said. "We need to know who they are and where they are, so if something happens we know where to go."

There is nothing that says a site director must greet an official and escort them from car to venue and back, adds Savo, "But what you find at the better schools is that there is a policeman there, especially at the harder games, and some schools have designated parking areas."

Tonelli and Savo said they do not document attacks on officials because cases are few. "I am sure there are officials who have been confronted," said Savo, who has dealt with his own parking lot confrontations with irate spectators, "but we have not received formal reports."

"We have been lucky," said Tonelli, who made reference to only one incident at a high school hockey game, "but Barry (Mano) will tell you his organization hears about a lot of incidents."

Mano did not offer hard numbers on attacks, but in past media interviews he put the annual number at 100, and he noted, "Assaults go largely unreported."

One clue that assaults are on the rise comes when you place a call to NASO. The automated answering system tells you to "press 5" for "assault information."

"We must tell coaches to be on the side of the game, not the side of the team," Mano said, noting that fans take behavioral cues from coaches.

Mano was asked repeatedly last week if safety issues are "better, the same or worse. It is much worse than it was before," he said. "Most of the time a parking lot is the only place where an official can get dressed, and these men and women are being assaulted in parking lots."

NASO provides insurance for 19,000 members nationwide. "When I started this association insurance for assaults wasn't even a blip on the radar screen," he said.

Schools have sportsmanship banners and placards at most high school facilities, but Savo likes a CIAC initiative that has a team representative address the crowd before a game, typically at state championship events.

"The athletes share something about what they expect from the fans," Savo said. "But then we must follow through and put those words into action. Schools that make sportsmanship a priority make the event positive for everyone. The greatest thing we can do in sports is provide a great environment with a positive outcome."

Winning, we once thought, is what made a successful event. But the death of volunteer official makes us reassess that notion. Getting home safe, healthy, and alive, is far more important than any final score.

Monday: What do area schools do to ensure a safe and positive experience for a high school game?

Follow Us

Post a reader comment

We encourage your feedback and dialog. Please be civil and respectful.If you're witty, to the point and quotable, your reader comments may also be included on the Around the Towns page of The Sunday Republican. Readers must be registered and logged in to post comments on the site. Registration is free. Click Here to register.
A Subscription is not required to post comments only a Registration.